Observation Guide

The data that observers collect is an integral part of the research lesson process and should be driven by what it is the research group wants to know. It should be tied to their long-term goals for students, as well as to their specific research lesson goals.

Prior to the observation, each observer should read through the lesson plan developed by the research group. The lesson can be downloaded from the MathStar website once it has been submitted by the Lesson Study group. The observer should take note of the mathematical focus of the lesson and the sequence of activities the teacher and students will be engaged in during the lesson. They should participate in a web chat prior to observing the research lesson and be sure they have a clear understanding of what it is they are expected to observe and how and why they are being asked to make the kinds of focused observations that they asked to do.

Observers should not interfere with the process of the lesson. They should not help students with the problem or give clarifying instructions to the students. The lesson should flow as if the observers were not present in the room. All observers should plan to participate in the debriefing session and be able to provide a neat, organized, detailed summary of the data that they have collected. This data and the conversation that surrounds it, will then help the research lesson team to reflect upon, revise, and summarize what they have learned via their lesson study.

Catherine Lewis has suggested that there are often research goals pertaining to academic/intellectual understanding, to students' motivation to the lesson, and/or to students' social behavior during the lesson. The key is that the focus should be driven by what it is the research group wants to know and by what constitutes good data towards the answering of their questions. If this is done, then there is lots of specific evidence that can be discussed in relation to how well the research lesson met the goals of the lesson.

There may be only one research focus during the research lesson or there may be more than one. For instance, if teachers have a goal of having students actively engaged in their own learning and they design a research lesson that they hope will meet this goal, they should discuss what is evidence of engagement. They might look for verbal, tactile, and kinesthetic evidence of engagement. Other examples of data that are to be collected could be: Are students participating by discussing and answering questions? Are students actively problem solving, writing down ideas and solutions? Are students leaning forward and bright-eyed?

There may be one main goal and each observer may want to focus on a group of students and gather evidence about them? One observer may want to write down numbers of students from the class who participate? The teachers may be interested in a close look at what one student does during the lesson. Maybe, there are other things the research group wants to investigate. One observer may focus on engagement and another might focus on understanding.

The bottom line again is that the data that is to be collected should be driven by what it is the research team wants to know. During lesson study planning, before the facilitation of the research lesson there should be explicit discussion of what kind of data will help the research team gather evidence in regards to what they hope to accomplish from their research lesson. These goals should be communicated as specific data that observers should look for and notate.

A final observation example comes from our 2002 Summer Conference. Our core teachers collaboratively discussed observation criteria related to the main topics area of academics, motivation, social behavior, and student attitudes for the "cube lesson". This is what they came up with.

Academic
Are they using the vocabulary correctly?
Is there understanding of the math content?
(Are they actively demonstrating and explaining within their group? How? What are they saying and doing?)
Motivation
How many times are their hands raised?
Are they asking questions of each other?
Are they asking questions of the teacher?
Are they answering questions?
What types of body language do you observe? (shining eyes,
'aha' comments)
Social Behavior
What is the frequency of interaction? (How many times do
students refer to and build on classmates' comments?
Is everyone valuing peer input? (How or how not?)
Are students friendly and respectful?
Is everyone participating?

Student Attitudes towards Lesson
What did you like most about the lesson? Why?
What did you like least about the lesson? Why?


The processes and documents described above were significantly influenced by the work of James Stigler and James Hiebert, authors of The Teaching Gap, and workshop materials from Clea Fernandez and the Lesson Study Research Group. These processes and materials are continuously evolving as we adjust them to the unique needs and challenges of the teachers, students and environment of New Mexico.

* MathNM would like to acknowledge MathStar for the materials they developed.